Mayer's tools of the trade. "Don't spend a fortune on knives," he says. "The most important thing is finding yourself a knife you feel comfortable with. It has to feel just right. It's like a baseball player and his bat."

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Mayer equips his butcher scabbard. “I don't like leaving knives laying around or holding them in my hands when talking. That's an accident waiting to happen,” he says. Keep all knives away from your counter edges, with the blade facing away from you when not in use.

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A 5-inch Forschner boning knife is Mayer's go-to weapon of choice. The small knife helps him make more precise cuts. For deeper cuts, he reaches for a longer blade.

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The day we visited Mayer he was breaking down an entire quarter of beef. Here, he's trimming fat, scraps, and bone from a larger cut.

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Mayer reserves meat trimmings to grind into ground beef later in the day. The most flavorful ground beef has an 80:20 ratio of lean beef to fat, says Mayer.

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The rib section from a quartered cow, from which Mayer will cut rib-eye roast, rib-eye steak, and back ribs.

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Don't be afraid of fat, says Mayer. In most cuts, he'll remove some of the fat, but not all. As fat renders during cooking, it creates moister, more flavorful meat.

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Masterful butchery requires a balance of skill and muscle. “Skill is knowing where to make the cut. Muscle is for the actual cutting or, in this case, sawing through bone,” says Mayer.

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Good butchers adapt their cuts to the season. “I like to make my rib cuts longer in the winter—I'm thinking more people make beef stews when it's cold. In the summer, I like to make the cuts thinner for grilling purposes,” Mayer says.

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Befriend your butcher, and you'll reap the rewards of personalized service. The best way to buddy up, according to Mayer: “Keep coming back!”

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Ask your butcher for recommendations. “This is a flank steak,” Mayer says. “It's great for marinating. Let it sit in orange juice, soy sauce, garlic, and maple syrup overnight. Cook it in a cast-iron pan for 3 minutes per side over medium-high heat. Let it rest for 10 minutes, and then slice the meat across the grain.”

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What makes a great steak? “A great steer,” says Mayer. “If it has a happy life with a happy place to live and eat, and a happy death, you can't go wrong.”

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“I should say, you can't go wrong unless you overcook it,” Mayer says. “I let my steaks sit until they're room temperature and then pat them dry.” If the meat is moist when it hits the pan, it won't sear properly, he says.

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Great sausages are simple, says Mayer: salt, fat, and meat. “I do a chicken sausage mixed with lamb fat that everyone loves.”

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Mayer's last cut of the day. “This is the back end of the cow known as the round,” he says.

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Mayer straightens the blade of his 8-inch knife with a ‘steel' in preparation of cutting off large chunks of fat from the round.

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“Here I'm knocking down what is known as the aitchbone of beef,” says Mayer.

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Mayer muscles out the aitchbone from the round.

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Mayer pulls off the shank bone, which he'll save for the marrow—a culinary delicacy. “The meat around this bone is also great for ground beef,” he says.

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At Provisions, Mayer utilizes all parts of the animal. He sends the extra fat to a local soap maker and saves the bones, like this femur, for the dogs.

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“I don't like to waste anything. I'm honoring the animal,” he says.

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Mayer cuts 95 percent of the meat in the case, he says. He tries to avoid what he calls “boxed meat,” which is cut down somewhere else, processed, boxed, and shipped.

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“If you have a good product, there's not a whole lot you need to do with it,” says Mayer. “I tell people to add some salt and pepper to the meat and some oil in a pan, and you're ready to cook.”

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“Your butcher should be knowledgeable about the animal and always helpful and willing to answer your questions,” says Mayer. “If he can't, find a new one. Like me.”

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